Experience and Outcomes

Experience Outcomes
Fast-food restaurant Courteous, efficient service
Smell and taste of the food
Enjoyment of company of friends
Doctor’s surgery Range of associated services
(government provided) (ante-natal, etc.)
Availability of appointments
Comfortable waiting room
Magazines to read
Empathetic staff
Internet fashion retailer Easy-to-navigate website
Latest styles
Popular sizes & colours
Clear returns policy
Freshly cooked food
Consistent quality
Short queues
Clear pricing
Fun and friendship
Intention to return
Value for money
Accurate diagnosis
Prescription of medicine
Advice
Feeling of being reassured
Reliable & rapid order fulfilment
Below retail shop prices
 Challenges that are common to all service businesses
Discussions: Challenges specific to Blood banks?

What are the challenges that are common for the 2 service businesses given?

Blood bank Airline Catering

Managing multiple customers Patients & Buyers Customers include Airlines & passengers.

Understanding the service Safety first; Lives matter. The various customers have different views
concept about what the organisation should do –
they cannot please everyone and struggle
to deliver.

Managing the outcome and The outcome is clear (package from A to B The customer experiences seen out in the
experience but the experience in dealing with the field by the field workers can be traumatic;
customer can be a differentiator. they try to provide both material and
emotional support.

Managing the customer
Understanding the customer
perspective
Getting the customer to provide accurate Managing governments and
information about the recipient and the intergovernmental issues are often more
contexts (for customs) can cause problems. demanding than managing the customers in
need of support.
The organisation may focus on delivery by There is sometimes a conflict between the
10.00, whereas the customer may want it immediate needs of customers for food and
earlier or indeed later. shelter and their longer term needs for
stability and economic growth.

Managing in real-time Transport delays and breakdowns cause The nightmares caused by disasters and
real headaches for courier companies. emergencies cannot be put on hold.

Coordinating different parts of Good service is not only about package Managing the flow of supplies to some
the organisation delivery but also about good customer dangerous parts of the world is often a real
service and the provision of clean invoices. problem.

Understanding the relationship Satisfaction, retaining and attracting Business success is very difficult to define
between operations decisions customers though on-time delivery and good in what is a never-ending challenge with
and business/ service are vital. never enough resources.
organisational success

Knowing, implementing and Operations has a key role in supporting The organisation’s strategy is implemented
influencing strategy corporate strategy, good logistics and great through its operational and human capability
customer service can also provide a and well-planned logistics.
competitive edge.

Continually improving the The organisation works to continually deal Improvement is not easy in a continually
operation with and remove the operational problems in changing environment with both large- and
package delivery. small-scale issues to contend with.

Encouraging innovation Innovation is needed but is often easily Innovation in the delivery of medical
copied by competitors. supplies and service is always being sought
to reduce cost and increase capacity.
 Managing short-term and long- Short-term problems of delays and missed An almost impossible task of responding to
term issues simultaneously pick-ups and deliveries can sometimes take short-term emergencies yet at the same time
management attention away from the longer- building long-term and lasting capacity and
term issues. capabilities on the ground.

2.9.2 – Consider your university/college. What do you think are the challenges their course delivery operations face in
providing you with good service?
Some examples of the challenges are listed under two headings below:

Strategic challenges

 Making rational, strategic and bold decisions about programme innovations, rather than maintaining the status quo.
Doing what is needed rather than doing what is expedient takes courage, and so represents a major challenge.

 Trying to stay ahead of the competition; making the industry rather than playing by others’ rules.

 In the UK (although this might be a problem elsewhere), there is the problem that top-ranked institutions prioritise
research above all else. This is to the extent that staff who were excellent teachers, but only average researchers, has
been forced to work at institutions of lesser stature. The teaching capability of institutions drops, but this is against a
background of markedly increasing expectations from students (and parents) because of rising tuition fees. Course
delivery operations teams are right in the middle of this ‘perfect storm’ in higher education. The challenge is a strategic
one because it is an expression of the basic dilemma in resourcing higher education: do we emphasise research,
teaching or a health mix of both?

 Designing a memorable and useful student experience.

Tactical challenges

 Trying to persuade academics bogged down with research activities to develop new and exciting material.

 The need to keep abreast of the day job: running and administering current operations, dealing with the immediate
tasks, while still thinking strategically about competitor action, and responding to it.

 Persuading academics to care about students, when student support is not rewarded. Academics are primarily
rewarded on research output.

 Persuading academics to embrace new technology.

 Keeping costs down.

 Getting academics to deliver work on time, and to adequate quality standards.

 Getting students to make decisions about module choices early so that capacity can be adjusted to suit.

 Getting students to stay on the right side of rules about plagiarism.

 Getting academic subject teachers to nominate teaching staff in good time.

Neither list is exhaustive, but clearly course operations have a difficult reconciliation challenge in both the long and short
term.